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->''"His friends would stay stop whining, they've had enough of that\\His friends would say stop pining, there's other girls to look at\\They tried to set him up with Tiffany and Indigo...\\But [[TitleDrop there's something about Mary]] that they don't know..."\\- '''Music/JonathanRichman''' ''

''There's Something About Mary'' is a 1998 romantic comedy film, directed by the Farrelly Brothers and starring Creator/CameronDiaz, Creator/MattDillon and Creator/BenStiller. Awkward and shy high-schooler Ted (Ben Stiller) lands a Prom date with his dream girl Mary (Cameron Diaz), only to have it cut short by a [[VulgarHumor painfully humiliating zipper accident]].

Thirteen years later, Ted is still in love - [[StalkingIsLove maybe even obsessed]] - with her. On the advice of his best friend Dom (Chris Elliott), he hires sleazy private detective Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to track her down. Healy finds that she is an orthopedic surgeon living in Miami but falls in love with the irresistible Mary as well. As the film progresses, Ted and Pat compete for her affections as the roster of other suitors rapidly snowballs.

----!!This film contains examples of:

* EightiesHair: Almost everyone in the prologue has massive hair. Ted's chiropractor, who is bald in the nineties, has long long hair.* AbhorrentAdmirer: the film does the male version with Chris Elliot's character, since he erupts into grotesque boils when he finally confronts the eponymous Mary. However, as befits the usual gendering of this trope, Chris Elliot's character already has an attractive, entirely subservient wife who does things like spontaneously bake him cookies and give him blowjobs while he watches football. ("Keep your head down, honey!")* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Ted's chiropractor says that Ted has "tender fascial tissue left of L7". There are only 5 lumbar vertebrae (L1-L5), not 7.* AttemptedRape: Subverted at the end of the film. It sounds like Woogie is trying to rape Mary, but he's only trying to steal her shoes.* BerserkButton: ''Never'' mess with Warren's ears.* BigBad: Woogie, Mary's high-school ex who has been pining for her for over a decade.* BracesOfOrthodonticOverkill: There's no parts that stick out of 1985 Ted's mouth or around his head, but it's still a pretty sizable set even for the 1980's.* BreakingTheFourthWall: An interesting version at the very end. [[spoiler: At the end Seabass reveals that he was only having sex with Magda to get to Mary, and shoots at Ted, hitting one of the GreekChorus members instead, thus bringing them into the movie proper instead of them just being inframe narrators. Of course it's the final scene in a comedy and for the RuleOfFunny, so it has no bearing on the plot.]]* BunnyEarsLawyer: For all his many faults Pat is a hell of a [[PrivateInvestigator bloodhound]]. As well as something of a ManipulativeBastard.* TheCameo: "What the hell is [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball Brett Favre]] doing here?"* CameraSniper: When Pat is tracking Mary.* TheChessmaster: Woogie. [[spoiler:He advises Ted to hire Pat Healy to find Mary, advises Ted to contact her, drives Ted to Miami and then sends an anonymous letter to get both Ted and Pat out of the way, leaving him free to swoop in and steal her shoes all without Ted suspecting anything. Even his friendship with Ted appears to be an early move in his game.]]* TheChewToy: Poor Ted gets mauled by a dog, nearly murdered by a hitchhiker, snagged on the lip by a fishhook, and beaten up by Warren. Oh, and then there's the whole zipper incident...* CloudCuckoolander: The hitchhiker that Ted picks up, who blabs nonsensically about his idea for "7 Minute Abs". [[spoiler:Not surprising, since he's a SerialKiller.]]* ClusterFBomb: Healy: We agreed I wouldn't fuck you, and you wouldn't fuck me until we got this....fuck outta the fuckin' picture!* CoversAlwaysLie: Cameron Diaz doesn't play the protagonist of the film, as the poster suggests.* CringeComedy* CulturalTranslation: Unfortunately averted - non-American viewers might not have understood what was so extraordinarily special about Brett being in love with Mary too. (For those who don't know, Brett Favre is a very famous UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball player.)* CurtainCall: Has this in DancePartyEnding.* DancePartyEnding: The whole cast singing ''Build Me Up Buttercup'' over the credits.* ADateWithRosiePalms: The "hair gel scene"* DevotedToYou: Deconstructed. All the guys Mary attracts, except for Brett, are creeps and weirdos.%%* DoggedNiceGuy: Ted.* DoubleMeaning: When Ted is speaking to Dom in the bar he mentions Mary. Dom says "Not ''Mary'' again" This is more meaningful as a RewatchBonus.* DudeMagnet: The entire plot of the film is based on the title character being one of these, although unfortunately only a [[StalkerWithACrush particular type]] of men seemed to be attracted to her.* EvilDetectingDog: Puffy, according to Magda. According to Mary, Puffy just hates men regardless of their motives.* FanDisservice: The binocular shot of [[GagBoobs Magna topless.]]* FailedASpotCheck: It's revealed at the end that Ted's been failing this for quite a while, when the identity of "Woogie" is revealed: [[spoiler: "Dom ''Wooganowski''." ''[Does 'duh' gesture]'']]* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: As Dom walks out of Ted's hotel room, he notices Mary walking into the lobby and ducks out of sight. Why would he do this unless they had some history together?]]* GreekChorus: Songwriter Music/JonathanRichman.* GroinAttack: The zipper incident provides the requisite {{Squick}}, although it's a self-inflicted accident. There's a more traditional example by the dog later.* TheGruntingOrgasm: Ted crumples the newspaper when he finishes.* HeelRealization: Ted ultimately realises that his obsession with Mary has ultimately made him little better than any of the other men who have been stalking her (although in his defence, he actually hasn't sank to the same depths that most of them have) and decides to let her go [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy so she can be happy with someone else]]. * HelloNurse: Mary has this effect on all guys in universe. As the title says, there's something about Mary that drives men crazy: Ted hires Healy to find her, Healy quits his job and moves to Miami for her, Norm creates a fake identity to get close to her and Woogie gets seriously stalkerish around her. Even the old guy who sleeps with Magda was only doing it to get close to Mary.* HistoryWithCelebrity: Mary's old boyfriend Brett is revealed at the end to be football quarterback Brett Favre.* HostileHitchhiker: There is a hitchhiking SerialKiller on the loose. The cops find the body he was carrying and peg the main character as a guy who kills hitchhikers, starting a hilarious MistakenConfession.* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: Dom has one of these before explaining to Ted why ADateWithRosiePalms is essential before any big date, leading to the infamous "hair gel" scene.* HypocriticalHumor: "You're the worst stalker of us all, man!"* IAmOneOfThoseToo: When Pat tries to impress Mary by pretending to be a suave architect. Cue her architect friend. [[spoiler:Who was also only pretending.]]* ImplausibleDeniability: Pat moves to Miami to follow Mary, and covers it up by telling Ted he's moving there to take a job with Rice-A-Roni.-->'''Ted:''' ...Aren't they the "San Francisco" treat?-->'''Pat:''' ...They ''were.'' They're changing their image.* InelegantBlubbering: Ted after the confrontation at Mary's house with [[spoiler:Brett Favre]].* INeverToldYouMyName: Ted is confused on how Dom knows about the zipper incident, since he never told him. Dom does a HandWave to this by saying he [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial only lived four towns away.]] This seems like a minor throwaway moment, but comes back later [[spoiler: when Dom is revealed to be "Woogie", Mary's high school boyfriend prior to meeting Ted, which also shows how he knew about said incident.]]* InformedAbility: Mary, who is a ''medical doctor'', mistakes semen for hair gel.* IronicEcho: Throughout the movie, everyone takes advantage of Ted's gullibility to jerk him around, only to laugh it off by saying "I'm fucking with you!" when he believes it. At the end, Mary sincerely tells Ted that she'd be happiest with him... and his response, after a few moments, is a [[TheWoobie miserable, dejected and resigned]] [[WontTakeYesForAnAnswer "You're fuckin' with me, right?"]]* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: "Brett Fav-ruh."* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Mary attended Princeton University. Her ex-boyfriend "Woogie" also received a scholarship from Princeton.* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: At the end, Ted is the only one willing to do this for Mary. Her response? "But I'd be happiest with ''you''".* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Pat Healy - he's a total sleazebag and will say anything to get in Mary's pants, but he actually grows to love and care for her. In fact, he thinks he's doing her a favor by stealing her from Ted, who [[{{Hypocrite}} he views as a creepy stalker]].* TheLadette: Part of Mary's [[MarySue Sueification]] is her combining a love of playing/watching sports and beer with otherwise perfect femininity. -->'''Mary''': Want to come inside and watch ''Series/SportsCenter?''* LetMeAtHim: Parodied. Ted is suspected of being a twisted SerialKiller by a pair of detectives, but it's in fact a huge mix-up and Ted only ran into the real culprit without even knowing. This starts a MistakenConfession where Ted casually admits his habit of "picking up hitchhikers". When he says that he might have had up to fifty hitchhikers in his life and makes light of this fact, the more unnerved of the two cops bashes Ted's head into the table in rage.* LoveDodecahedron: A Type 3 [[TriangRelations Triang Relation]] extended into a Love Dodecahedron with Mary at the center. Everybody is in love with/stalks Mary, including the main character and even football star Brett Favre. Naturally, Mary choses the main character even over Brett. (She's a Niners fan.)* MagicalDefibrillator: When Pat has to resuscitate the dog. With an electrical cable.* MeaningfulName: [[MarySue Is Mary's middle name Sue?]]** Pat Healy, who is indeed a heel.** Norm, who's just a normal guy.** Dom [[spoiler: who also happens to be the most aggressive and dominant of Mary's stalkers]]* MistakenConfession: Hitchhiking vs. murder. ''"How many? In my whole life? I dunno, 15/20? I don't exactly keep track..."''* MistakenForGay: Ted tries to take a piss at a highway rest stop and ends up triggering a sting operation where he is arrested with dozens of gay guys, who also claim that they were "just taking a piss".* MistakenForMasturbating: ** Ted is daydreaming in the bathroom in the prologue but is accused of masturbating to Mary, who is changing clothes in a room in view.** Inverted in a scene when he really has been masturbating and Mary thinks the suspicious substance on his ear is hair gel.* MustMakeAmends: The main character is visiting Mary's house and accidentally kills her dog. And his reaction to this is to, quite literally, attempt to resuscitate the dog. It works, which probably means that the dog wasn't quite killed. [[RuleOfFunny But in an extreme comedy, anything goes.]]* NeverLiveItDown: InUniverse. Implied by Dom when he mentions that he knew about Ted's zipper incident because he was "only" four towns away.* OhCrap: "Is that...hair gel?"* OffOnATechnicality: Mary's architect friend, [[spoiler:who was actually a pizza delivery boy]], claimed Pat was a murderer who stayed in prison for five years until a technicality got him off. It wasn't true.* OneDialogueTwoConversations: The interrogation scene. Ted admits he picked up a hitchhiker, but the cops believe he admits he killed a hitchhiker.* PoorMansPorn: Ted uses a newspaper brassiere ad before the "Hair gel" scene.* PrecisionFStrike: When Tucker informs Mary of the fact that Pat Healy never went to Harvard, Healy, whos eavesdropping, launches one.-->'''Pat Healy''': '''''FUCK!'''''** "From that moment on, the guys at school looked at me in a whole new light"--> "You're a fucking liar!"* RedRightHand: [[spoiler:Woogie/Dom has spots on his face.]]%%* RefugeInAudacity: The dog fight.* TheReveal: "Who the hell is Woogie?" [[spoiler: Ted's friend Dom.]]** And then later in the scene, Mary's saint-like ex-boyfriend "Brett" turns out to be [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball Brett Favre]].* RewatchBonus: The movie drops a lot of subtle hints about everyone's real agenda that doesn't get picked up until the second time around. Regarding the identity of "Brett", you can catch a few early clues, with one friend calling him "Pack Man" (although most will audibly interpret it as "Pac-Man" the first time before they know The Reveal) and Mary also talking about how he lived "up north." With Dom, him mentioning Ted's zipper incident — even though he wasn't there and Ted never told him about it — is a big tip-off about his hidden agenda that's usually regarded as a random HandWave the first time. He also ducks out of Mary's sight at the hotel, with good reason as we find out later.* ScaryBlackMan: Subverted with Mary's stepfather. He invokes this for his own amusement just to fuck with Ted, but he's actually quite friendly when he drops the act.* SerialKiller: ** Ted picks up one and ends up being framed for his crimes, but thinks he's being arrested just for picking up a hitchhiker.** Tucker makes Mary think Pat is one of these in order to eliminate him as a romantic rival.%%* SexualKarma%%* SheCleansUpNicely* ShownTheirWork: Though Warren is played for laughs he's a very accurate portrayal of an individual with mild mental retardation with autistic-like tendencies. He's often in his own little world, self-stimulates, has his routines and possessions which he holds dear, and is tactile defensive (does not like to be touched in certain areas). He is also functional and capable of establishing relationships and trust. Most indicated by the very subtle moment at the end where he allows Ted to touch his ears without going off. It is a Farrelly Brothers movie and they do a lot of work with individuals with disabilities and as a result always show such indiduals accurately and in a positive manner. This was also clearly demonstrated during the scene where Mary brings lunch to the other individuals from Warren's group.%%* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan%%* SirSwearsALot: Pat Healy.* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Mary. She has a strange effect on men that turns them into obsessive stalkers.* SorryILeftTheBGMOn: Crossed with GreekChorus and a ThemeTuneCameo.* StalkerWithACrush: By the end of the movie, Mary has no less than ''five'' of these, including Ted. [[spoiler:Six, if you count Magda's boyfriend, who says he was only sleeping with her to get closer to Mary.]]* StalkingIsLove: With ''everyone''!* SuddenMusicalEnding: The whole cast lip-synching to "Build Me Up, Buttercup".* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: When the cops mistakenly think that Ted is a serial murderer, they remark that they never look like how you expect them upon seeing Ted.* TitleDrop: During the GreekChorus bits.* UnexplainedRecovery: Ted gets two fish hook barbs ''through his cheek'' in a graphic scene but is none the worse for wear when he shows up next.* UnwantedHarem: {{Deconstructed}}. No, it's not cool being the object of so much affection.* VitriolicBestBuds: Near the end, Healy and Tucker seem to have become this.* YouMonster: Parodied. When the cops mistake Ted for a SerialKiller and he apparently "[[MistakenConfession confesses]]" having a bodycount in the dozens, one of the horrified detectives loses it. With utter fury he responds "You ''son of a bitch''... you're gonna fry" before [[LetMeAtHim slamming Ted's head into the table repeatedly]].